OneDrive Update for Windows Phone 8.1 Fixes All My Gripes

A new version of OneDrive for Windows Phone 8.1 was released to the Windows Phone store yesterday. I caught it last night, but not in the normal way. Usually, the Windows Phone store tile will give an indicator, but I had to actually go searching for OneDrive in the store and once located, where there's usually an "Install" button an "Update" button was in its place. I probably just didn't wait long enough, but with the communicated fixes and features, I couldn't.

I updated my Windows Phone (HTC 8x) to version 8.1 last week and have since been struggling with the OneDrive app. There were various capabilities that it simply didn't have and I had to figure out workarounds to do what I wanted.

I guess someone was listening to me as I griped over Twitter because Version 4.1 released yesterday fixes each complaint I had. I constantly use OneDrive to transfer files between devices (PC, tablet, smartphone). One of my problems was after capturing some screenshots on the smartphone for an article and trying to upload multiple screen captures to OneDrive. Multi-selection was not available in OneDrive. The other issue was how to get the screenshots from the Photos app to OneDrive, since OneDrive was not in the list of Sharing options. OneNote was there, so I eventually opted to use that, but it was inconvenient.

The 4.1 upgrade solved all my problems, and added a few more capabilities before I had a chance to gripe about those, too.

Here's what 4.1 brings:

Now looks great on large screen phones

* Upload multiple photos, videos and files at once

New immersive view for viewing and managing photos

Open files from OneDrive in other apps

* Share files to OneDrive from other apps

Sort files and folders

Bug fixes and performance improvements

It's a worthy upgrade and you can download it from the Windows Phone store app or send it to your Windows Phone directly the store from here: OneDrive

P.S. This update is not just for Windows Phone 8.1. It also supports Windows Phone 8 and 7.5.

P.S.S. A bug was identified in the first 4.1 release and a new update is on the way. The problem is that OneDrive 4.1 shows duplicate folders in some cases. Look for the OneDrive update today. If it's not available yet just wait a bit, as Microsoft tends to stagger availability to manage bandwidth.